Moving!!!

We're moving!!! In more ways than one.

You can check out my NEW BLOG at: http://armedandinspired.blogspot.com/
Check out my NEW STORE at: http://armedandinspired.etsy.com/

and cross your fingers, and wish me luck, because WE CLOSE ON A HOUSE NEXT WEEK!!!

I'm no longer posting here on The Xarata Project, but I post on Armed & Inspired once or twice a month.All my latest projects are there!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Dance Again- A Wedding Lace Project

2 years ago I got married. I made my dress and had a (literal) fairytale wedding:





But one of the memories I will always have is trying on my mother's wedding dress, head to toe lace with a lace train and the way my tiny niece's eyes lit up at the prettiest dress she'd ever seen. I didn't wear my mother's wedding dress, and though i took the train with me with the hopes of incorporating it into my dress somehow, my wedding dress was an original and the vintage lace didn't quite fit. 2 years later, I still have the train of my mom's wedding dress. So earlier this week, I spent 3 hours with a seamripper carefully extracting the lace from that train. Then I made a basic black dress and showcased that lace in a dress that will always have something a little extra special:

I love the idea of giving a wedding dress more than it's 15 minutes of fame. I'm not sure what the rest of the lace will go into, but I love that it can become something else. My little sister is getting married. It's her turn to try on our mother's wedding dress, and if she decides she'd like a little piece of it with her on her wedding day, it just might live on as a garter, a belt, a pair of lace gloves, a snazzy addition to a pair of heels, or a special touch on the edge of her veil. Style changes, but memories can evolve, and it's nice to know that a wedding dress doesn't have to be sealed away for someone else's special day.

I might be interested in a large scale wedding dress project, but I'm not sure many people would be enthused about letting someone cut up their wedding dress :) We'll see.

Favorited on Etsy

Over the summer I let my etsy site wilt a bit...ok! OK! I let it die...all my listings were expired. When someone asked if they could buy something I was wearing, I gave them all my info and breathed a little life back into my etsy store. Today I went in to list the item they had originally asked me for (it was one of my new hair flowers and I hadn't photographed it) and found some cool new features that I either never noticed before or are new (they did revamp over the summer). I can now see when people "favorite" something I've listed. The zombie plan glass has been favorited a few times recently, and my "42" glass was added to a treasury of Hitchhiker's Guide items. It's not in the treasury anymore and I suspect that's because I let it expire (whoops), but it was nice to see!

Currently trying to figure out the best way to evolve xarata.etsy.com into armedandinspired.etsy.com or if I should just leave the link alone, but change the banners and the business cards....decisions decisions...

Armed & Inspired

Have a little faith! I told you that just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean I'm not crafting. Expect my blog posts to be like that more often- A big pow at the end of the month of what I've been up to.


Tourist season ended last week...time is back on my hands (though money is fleeing my pocket). I had some goals for the year...not a total win on that front, but progress...so let's recap:

-I have not bought a house and don't really feel comfortable committing to one before the end of the year. So...house FAIL :( On a more positive note, the biggest reason I wanted to leave the house we're in was my obnoxious neighbor (remember he kept mowing over my pumpkins?!?!?). He moved several months ago, life has been much quieter, and I have PUMPKINS!!! so if my house deadline is pushed back a bit more, at least I have a pumpkin WIN! :)
-I got a second job passively related to my degree(retail), I've moved up 1 slot in seniority at my restaurant job, and Bob got promoted. So...work WIN? :)
-I committed to a Pay It Forward Project for the year and will be mailing those out in the next week or two so...project WIN :)
-For those wondering, I did make sweet sticky rice with mango at some point this year- late spring I believe :)
-I tried to streamline the Xarata Project, and ended up taking it in a completely different direction. I'm okay with that. I rediscovered a love for fashion and sewing projects. Technically it's a streamline fail, but I'm declaring it a vision WIN! :] <-not a full smiley cuz I kinda went 50/50 there

Speaking of taking The Xarata Project in a completely different direction...Are you ready for it? I've decided that if I'm going to get truly serious about this, I'm going to have to make it a business- a business with a target clientele, an inventory, and -most of all- marketability. There will always be a special place in my heart for "The Xarata Project". It was a time of discovery, of learning, of building a support network, but let's be honest- almost no one can figure out how to pronounce it! :) And a "project" doesn't really sound very committal does it? It's a rather transient/temporary sounding word. So...it's time for a re-vamp. It's going to take a few weeks to get the new look off the ground, but keep an eye out for

Armed & Inspired

 A new name, a new direction, and probably some new websites (i can't have people going to xarata.etsy.com for Armed&Inspired products now can I?). We'll see how it all pans out. If any of my photographer friends want to help a girl out, I want to design my banners with a photo shoot of me decked out in something frilly accessorized with tools (you know, armed and inspired) that I can use on banners, business cards, etc. This is the rough vision sketch, but definitely NOT what I will be using for my websites as it is really rough:

If/when the blog domain changes, I'll crosspost here for a bit with duplicate posts and the new blog link, and then I intend to completely transition. I hope you'll stay with me. Here we go...

Fall Flowers

Everytime the season changes, i feel the need to vamp my wardrobe, and I usually start with my flowers! I included pictures of the backs this time around for the simple reason that I never do and maybe you'd like to know that they don't look like some chick hotglued a silkflower to a hairclip (even though that's totally what I do).

*Forgive the background, I randomly decided to do all of my blogging for the month tonight at midnight and frankly was just too lazy to fetch my photo cube.



I wore one of these to my retail job last week and someone asked if they could buy it and that was kind of cool...




see? downright professional lookin'!



yeah...i got a little carried away...I think I was flower deprived or something...

Purple Plaid Projects!!!

In case you didn't know, it's been raining...A LOT!!! And with all this rain, I became very aware of the complete lack of hoods on any of my clothing, so I decided that I wanted a hooded Poncho. Why a poncho? I honestly don't know, other than I hate trying to squeeze winter clothing into coat sleeves, hate the hassle of buttons when I'm in a hurry, and always feel the need to take my coat OFF when entering a building. A poncho is kind of like a really wide scarf...with a hood in my case...and it rocks. I feel a little bit like Little Red Riding Hood and wonder why we ever started making practical clothing when capes were simply WAY more fun.

 When I went fabric hunting I came across a really pretty heavy weight purple plaid, and I think I am going to buy more of it! lol (I did buy a jacket pattern for $2, so I think I ALSO need a purple plaid jacket. yes. I think I do...)

It's reversible to the grey and black checkered flannel and it's super warm. And it looks good with EVERYTHING, jeans, dresses, everything. I dig it.

Honey liked it a lot too. As soon as it appeared, it became her new favorite lounging spot, so I made her a a thick blanket/pad to lay on that matches my poncho. I sandwiched 2 layers of super-thick fleece in between and she DOES lay on it ALL the time. But my poncho was on the chair and she pounced and so the following picture:

She actually normally lays on the flannel side, but I felt like showing off the purple plaid side for my purple plaid post! The lump behind her is my poncho... Note the matching purple plaid collar. My little dog likes her fancy accessories. And you know, soft flannel doesn't hurt either.

Now, say it with me: PURPLE PLAID PONCHO! PURPLE PLAID POST! PURPLE PLAID PEOPLE! PURPLE PLAID! PURPLE PLAID! PURPLE PLAID!!!

ok...i'm done now...


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purple...


plaid...

Pay It Forward SPOILER!!!

In January, I joined a Pay It Forward Challenge to send something handmade to 5 people by the end of the year. If you are one of those five lucky people and would like to be surprised, I urge you to discontinue reading this entry......nnnnnnNow....

***SPOILER ALERT***

So the Pay It Forward boxes will be going out in the next few weeks, and while small for shipping purposes, contain some fun goodies made by yours truly. Thank you for participating and thank you for supporting The Xarata Project for the past year and a half. In your box, you can expect:

-A Headband!


Headbands were the first thing I managed to sell, so  you should be excited to own a little piece of Xarata Project history!



A handpainted glass bowl with my favorite bumblebee design!



I still have to add legs and antennae and then bake the suckers because I do NOT want that paint coming off darn it! And yes, I painted these especially for YOU!!!


-A hairflower!!!


My carefully selected "is that real?!?!?" hairflowers. One of my choosing, probably a fall style flower.

 -And a piece of unique jewelry yet to be selected. I'm torn between something traditional like my copper coil link jewelry, or something very special that's extra hard to get anywhere else, like my ear loop jewelry. Whatever I choose, I'm going to make it up special just for your packages!